page_title: Cherimoya
section_title: Distribution and habitat
hierarchical_section_title: Cherimoya / Distribution and habitat
caption_attribution_description: Português: Planta de cherimoia (Annona cherimola Mill) em ocorrência em área natural em Vilcabamba, Equador. Español: Planta de chirimoyo (Annona cherimola Mill) en ocurrencia en área natural en Vilcabamba, Ecuador. Nederlands: Cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.) Plant die voorkomt in een natuurlijk gebied in Vilcabamba, Ecuador. Deutsch: Cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.) Pflanze, die in einem Naturgebiet in Vilcabamba, Ecuador vorkommt. Foto am 18. März 1999 aufgenommen. English: Cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.) plant occurring in a natural area in Vilcabamba, Ecuador. Photographs taken on March 18, 1999.
context_page_description: The cherimoya, also spelled chirimoya and called chirimuya by the Inca people, is an edible fruit-bearing species of the genus Annona from the family Annonaceae. They were believed to be native to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile, spreading through cultivation to the Andes and Central America. But they have been found to have originated in Central America.
  Cherimoya is grown in tropical regions throughout the world, and in Spain, where it is widely consumed. It is grown in the southern provinces of Granada and Málaga. It is also grown in Italy, in the southern province of Reggio Calabria. It is in the same genus, Annona, as soursop.
  American writer Mark Twain called the cherimoya "the most delicious fruit known to men". The creamy texture of the flesh gives the fruit its secondary name, the "custard apple".
context_section_description: Widely cultivated now, Annona cherimola is believed to originate from the Andes at altitudes of 700 metres (2,300 ft) to 2,400 metres (7,900 ft) although an alternative hypothesis postulates Central America as the origin of Annona cherimola because many of its wild relatives occur in this area. From there it was taken by Europeans to various parts of the tropics.  Unlike other Annona speciesA. cherimola has not successfully naturalized in West Africa, and in Australasia Annona glabra is often misidentified as this species.
  Native
  Neotropic:
  Western South America: Ecuador, Peru
  Southern South America: Chile
  Current (naturalized and native)
  Neotropic:
  Caribbean: Florida, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico
  Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama
  Northern South America: Guyana, Venezuela
  Southern North America: Mexico
  Western South America: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
  Southern South America: Chile, Brazil
  Palearctic: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, France, Italy, Spain, Madeira, Azores
  Afrotropic: Eritrea, Somalia, Tanzania,
  Indomalaya: India, Singapore, Thailand
  Australia
caption: A wild cherimoya plant in Vilcabamba, Ecuador
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